mtcrystal66

After being offered laughable compensation for a recent situation that was undoubtedly United's fault, I had to ask twice for escalation. Here are bits and pieces of today's response.
1. I'm sorry you are unhappy with my response. It wasn't my intention to cause frustration. {That's rich!}
2. I have forwarded...so we can improve our operations. {guessing to your trash folder}
3. I can appreciate your request for escalation, however, I'm unable to honor your request. {I was not aware I had already reached the top, lucky me!}
4. Additional escalation is not provided. {Fine, I will escalate, thanks for wasting my time.}
I am usually quite good at finding emails and mailing addresses for the tippy top however, I can not find Scott Kirby, United CEO, or Linda JoJo, EVPC Customer Officer. Can anyone assist me with this? The next step is DOT.

WineCountryUA

Welcome to FT!, mtcrystal66

Try https://www.elliott.org/company-cont...ited-airlines/

Care to share what the situation was?

ContinentalFan

The first step should always be DOT. United doesn’t care about your problem; the airline cares about its reputation.

When you present a problem to United, you become the problem and CS fixates on fixing you.

mahasamatman

The last step should be DOT. If people clog DOT with irrelevant and trivial complaints (no idea what the problem is in this case), they will be unable to respond to real issues.

ContinentalFan

The DOT is more than capable of handling complaints. Few are relevant to the mission of the agency; all complaints are compiled and a summary of the number of complaints charged against each airline is distributed to media outlets monthly. It’s this latter activity, not really germane to what the main mission of the agency, is where the power of the consumer lies. I deluge of complaints always gets the travel media in a frenzy.

I never bother complaining to United: it’s a total and undiluted waster of time (unless you like a few thousand miles); I always use the DOT.

WineCountryUA

And the DOT backlog is increasing. My first and only DOT compliant last November stated it would be 30=60 days. And the flight in question was 3 weeks out. I retried and solved the issue satisfactorily with UA.

This was the first time I have not received a satisfactory response (helps to understand the policies and have reasonable expectations) from UA prompting me to go to the DOT. It's a pain to have to complain but I generally find UA is responsive but occasionally you get a CS agent that should be in a different line of work.

BTW, does the DOT first ask if you have attempted to work it out with the carrier?

mfirst

I think some details about what happened might be in order
while I want to be sympathetic to the OP - we have all been part of venting that might be solvable in a manner that does not involve the CEO
.... I have also had very simple questions take weeks to answer or resolve... much like the slow wheels of justice
and sometimes the issues are not exactly the fault of United

ContinentalFan

No, the agency doesn’t ask. In some respects, the process old be viewed as unfair to airlines, as a complaint about coffee being too cold is complied with more serious complaints. Though the flip side is that the DOT doesn’t really do anything with them. Safety, civil rights, etc complaints are handled separately.

sinoflyer

Having been on both sides of airline customer service, I have developed an instinct to roll my eyes and assume a case of self-importance when I hear a passenger say "this is your last chance" to the airline. It's a similar reaction I had to a recent attempt by a US Congressperson (TX) to shame UA on social media. The Congressperson's video post didn't go viral as aimed, but I think social media is still more effective than regular customer service or DOT in getting UA to respond and quickly. Nevertheless, my mind is open to the details.

narvik

Can't blame OP for not sharing: invariably -if info is subsequently shared- these kinds of threads divulge into bashing the OP for this, that and the other.

---

After almost 2 million miles on Continental & United, I have yet to complain to United (see *) or DOT about anything.


Note *:
Other than simple stuff like missing PQP/GPUs etc. that was always quickly resolved.

mfirst

So, let's look at options:
a) Go to social media and risk the wrath of the Internet as a whole
b) Go to DOT and have "top people" look into this
c) Continue to see what options there are to work with UA
d) Take chances by telling us the story and seeing if FT people can help figure out it this is a reasonable issue to elevate or not

While I might be a newbie here compared to some of you (only 1k for years and recently 1MM since joining MP 35 years ago), I have had my share of IRROPS, lost luggage, trips that went sideways, sleeping in airports, etc - but I dont recall ever being in a situation in which someone at least tried to help - even if it was something that I brought upon myself (like hanging out in the lounge too long and missing my flight from Cancun). I think UA is interested in providing good service and wants feedback - but there are practical limits and a policy of "the customer is always right" is not exactly one that works anywhere anymore.

Hawkeyefan

Was this your bait/switch price on an F buy up that you talked about?

WineCountryUA

This was the refusal to honor a Polaris cash upgrade that was offered on website even after the initial failure to purchase. After a second contact with UA, reached out to DOT and initial response was"Please note that the Department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection is receiving a high volume of complaints. As a result, the time to process complaints is taking longer than normal. We are working hard to provide the best support we can, but it may take several weeks to process your complaint. We apologize for the delay."

After two weeks of no followup, with flight in a few and the offer was on the website, a third reach out to UA was successful.
Never heard more from DOT or UA after that. ? UA reported it as resolved??

DOT is unlikely to be getting more resources so there is an issue with flooding the DOT that significant issues are not being processed timely.

mfirst

do we really think the DOT is going to get involved with an upgrade transaction that didnt work out as desired (unless money was involved that didnt get returned? - and even then so?)
.... and are these the types of issues that we want the DOT to get involved with?

WineCountryUA

Clearly DOT issue
Upgrade offered, I accept the offer, UA charged the card and sent an email congratulating me for the successful purchase. Then on attempting to select seat assignment, received a notification of cancellation of upgrade. The price was not some weird error, it was a fairly typical offer. I called and escalated to a supervisor , who stated UA can cancel and refund such offers anything. However if I still wanted to upgrade it was available at a significantly high price!!

This is a clear violation of Uniform Commercial Code == offer made and accepted, payment made and accepted, transaction confirmed. It is also a violation of the DOT's 14 CFR § 399.88 - Prohibition on post-purchase price increase.

Would you accept purchasing a ticket and UA coming back and canceling the ticket (but not the flight) but offering you a opportunity to purchase again for a higher price?

The really kicker was, the offer continued to be offered. I tried once again and it failed. Made the DOT complaint at that point. Tried a third time, a few weeks later and still there, after receiving the DOT response of delay, this the supervisor agreed to force the upgrade through.

Yes this was a clear DOT issue, a consumer protection issue, a deceptive practice.